


Summer Moved On

by misura



Category: Primeval
Genre: Community: smallfandomfest, M/M, Pre-Canon, University
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-07-21
Updated: 2010-07-21
Packaged: 2017-10-25 22:46:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,422
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/275670
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misura/pseuds/misura
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>Nick will take what he can get, even if it's a bright-eyed student who probably had a crush on Nick's wife.</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	Summer Moved On

**Author's Note:**

> prompt: _Nick/Stephen, why?_

They bury Helen's memory on a lovely Summer's day in June - Nick spends most of the day desperately wishing it would rain, so that he'd feel something wet on his face. He's somehow, at some point, agreed to give a speech - 'nothing fancy', they've assured him, and so 'nothing fancy' is what they get.

He chokes halfway through ( _'I greatly respected Helen as a human being, as my wife and as a fellow scientist'_ ) and someone from the University steps in, gets him to sit down, brings him a glass of water, and Nick manages not to throw it in his face, yelling _'my wife is gone, and you think what I need is something to drink?'_.

Someone else comes on then, takes his place, starts talking about Helen as if they knew her at all. Nick doesn't really pay attention at first, catching only snatches: _'a brilliant scientist'_ (with some really crackpot theories), _'a gifted teacher'_ (with some really crackpot theories that she had absolutely no right to present to her students as being as valid as anything Darwin ever came up with), _'a loving wife'_ \- and that's when Nick leans over to the guy who brought him the glass of water to ask who the hell the guy is, to talk about Helen like that, and the guy (Nick doesn't know his name) smiles at him a bit nervously and tells him it's Hart, Stephen Hart. One of Helen's favorite students, supposedly.

It seems as good an idea as any he's ever had to go and say hello after the funeral.

 

Stephen knows Nick's name, as it turns out. Shakes his hand when he sees Nick and starts telling Nick about how sorry he is for Nick's loss and all that crap Nick's heard a hundred times already today.

"For God's sake, will you people stop talking about her as if she's dead?" Nick's been wanting to yell at someone all day.

Stephen gets this expression on his face like he's feeling sorry for Nick - the poor, delusional professor who can't come to terms with reality, and Nick wants to punch him, but then Stephen's expression changes into something else, and what he says is: "You've got any proof she might still be alive, then?"

There's worlds of differences between 'might still be alive' and 'is still alive'. There's a _universe_ of difference between 'might still be alive' and 'is dead', though. At this point, Nick will take what he can get, even if it's a bright-eyed student who probably had a crush on Nick's wife (because all of Helen's students did; she had that effect on her students, did Helen, unlike Nick, who never managed much more than a friendly, good-natured tolerance).

"They never did find her body, did they?" Helen left a roomful of notes and old bones and magazines written by people who believe in little green aliens coming to Earth to make crop circles by way of telling humankind to hurry up and discover faster-than-light travel already.

Nick's got her old backpack, all sterilized, nothing like a clue in there.

"No, they didn't." Stephen doesn't add that's not exactly proof of life, as far as these things go. Nick likes him for that, a little.

"Proof enough for me," Nick says.

Stephen looks like he wants to believe Nick is right. Must have been quite a crush, Nick thinks, a little sadly, because even if Helen does come back, it's not like _that_ 's going to go anywhere.

 

The University tells him he can hire someone new for the department, now that Helen's officially been taken off the payroll. In between the lines and polite terms for not-so-polite actions, they also tell him he'll have to settle for someone cheap, who doesn't mind doing as much work as Nick does for only about half the salary they're paying _him_.

He gets Stephen's number from the University's administration after perhaps thirty minutes of explaining to them he wants the number to offer Stephen a _job_ , not to proposition him, or stalk him, or offer a higher grade in exchange for money, or for any of the other nefarious purposes the friendly and always helpful people from Admin can conceive of.

"Hey, it's me," Nick says, after Stephen's picked up on the second ring. (That's good, that is; Nick himself always lets the department's phone ring at least ten times, figuring that anyone with something serious to talk about will hang on.)

Stephen doesn't ask 'who?'. (That's good, too; Nick's got a terrible memory for names and faces and voices - at least when it's people.) "Cutter? Everything all right? Did you find something?"

"Just wanted to ask: you got a job yet?"

"Got a few things lined up," Stephen says cautiously, not biting yet, but definitely showing an interest. "Nothing definite yet. Why?"

"Opening at the Department," Nick tells him. "Long hours, lousy pay."

"When do I start?"

Nick leans back, smiling. "As soon as you can get here," he tells Stephen.

 

Stephen's no Helen. Nick can bounce ideas off of him, and Stephen will try to prick holes in them good-naturedly enough, and sometimes he'll even counter with a theory of his own, but there's never any friction, none of the conflicts Nick had with Helen, arguments that lasted for weeks.

All of Nick's female students seem to get a severe case of the giggles whenever Stephen's around. It doesn't seem to matter if Nick's there, too, or even if he's talking to them at the time; Stephen's the one they're looking at and paying attention to.

"Just so you know: you can't sleep with any of them," Nick says, because it's something that seems to need saying.

"Maybe you should tell that to _them_ ," Stephen replies, although he looks a little smug, too.

"I thought I'd leave that to you." Nick grins.

Stephen shrugs. "Me, I just tell them I've already got a girlfriend."

"You do?" Nick didn't know. Granted, he never asked, so that might be why.

"Alison." Stephen gives him this slightly hurt expression. "Studies infectious diseases. Currently gone on a two-year trip to the Amazon."

"Oh, right. _Alison._ " Nick shakes his head. "How could I forget."

"Absent-minded, that's what you are," Stephen agrees.

"It ever occur to you that maybe getting a _real_ girlfriend would be easier?" It occurs to Nick every time he sees people looking at the two of them, every time he turns in his monthly report to Admin and Mrs. Grumbly informs him the University doesn't pay for overtime unless it's been approved of in advance, as if Nick doesn't know that already, and how it's really not fair of him to keep Stephen at the office so late, what with Stephen being such a _nice_ young man and all.

"Well, I'm picky," Stephen says.

"Hoping you're just going to stumble over the perfect woman in the University halls one of these days?" Nick shakes his head. "Not going to happen. Trust me." It's happened that way to _Nick_ , of course, with Helen. Miracles can't be taken for granted, though, and anyway, it didn't turn out all that well in the end, did it?

"Or man," Stephen says. "And perfect's too boring for me. Give me interesting any day. Smart."

"I didn't know you'd also dated men," Nick says, hoping he doesn't sound like he's judging. He's not, really; he doesn't see the point in picking up a stranger in a bar for one night of sex, the way he knows Stephen does sometimes, and he thinks that sort of thing might well lead to people getting disappointed or hurt, but what gender those people are is all the same to him, so long as they're consenting, not entirely plastered adults who know more or less what they're doing.

"That's not a problem for you, is it?" Stephen's tone is casual, like he's just checking to make sure.

"No problem to me," Nick says, noticing the way Stephen relaxes ever so slightly at that answer.

 

Nick's always been a bit of a loner. Before, it used to be him and Helen - now it's him and Stephen, but Stephen's officially only a 'laboratory technician', and so Nick's the one who gets to go to all the boring meetings Helen always volunteered for, in exchange for Nick cooking or doing the dishes or cleaning the house. It's amazing, how long some people can talk about nothing of any importance at all.

"Budget meeting in five minutes." Stephen's shown him how to use his computer to help him keep track of his appointments, but Nick pettily refuses to keep an agenda. The plan is to 'forget' at least one meeting every week - more, if he can manage it. Stephen's not having any of it, though.

"We don't even _have_ a budget." They get paid, of course, but any time they want to buy a new piece of equipment or go on a trip, Admin just gives Nick a pile of forms to fill out.

Stephen grins at him in a way that makes Nick want to throw something at him. "Sounds like you got your work cut out for you, then."

"Why can't _you_ do it? Just blink those pretty eyes of yours at them." Last time they needed their coffee machine fixed, Nick'd just sent Stephen over to Admin, and someone'd come over and fixed it that same afternoon. They hadn't even made Stephen fill out any forms, which was adding insult to injury, in Nick's opinion. "Nobody's listening to me, anyway."

"Sorry, no can do." Stephen comfortably leaned back in his chair. "But thanks."

"For what?"

Stephen grins at him. "For telling me I've got pretty eyes."

 

Stephen does have pretty eyes, Nick thinks. Although it's more like Stephen's got a pretty _everything_ \- pretty eyes, a pretty face, elegant but strong hands, a pleasant personality, a well-toned body.

Nick supposes he could forgive his students for being somewhat distracted by all that prettiness, even if he thinks it's a bit silly, to waste one's attention on something or someone who is obviously unavailable.

Helen's been gone for a little over a year now. It's Summer again, and Nick wonders if Stephen still thinks of her every day, the way Nick does. Wonders if maybe that's why Stephen never gets together with anyone for longer than one night, two nights, a week at most.

Wonders if Nick should blame himself for that, if it's true.

Wonders what on earth he should do about it.

 

Nick gets them two tickets to a dig over in the Amazon - or, well, Nick fills out the paperwork and Stephen delivers it. Nick thinks of it as a vacation, a break from the University and its paperwork.

"Will you be meeting up with Alison then, Stephen?" Mrs. Grumbly asks pointedly, as they come to pick up their permits and a whole box of folders and regulations and booklets with Ways To Tell If You've Been Bitten By a Poisonous Snake. She seems a bit chillier than usual today, at least when Stephen's around.

"Afraid not." Stephen sighs as he browses through the box. "She'll be getting back to London two days after our flight out, so we'll just miss one another."

"Pity." Her face brightens though. "Long-distance relationships always are hard."

"I keep telling him he should find a nice girl over here," Nick puts in, sensing a chance to get into her good graces. Stephen throws him a dirty look.

Mrs. Grumbly tut-tuts at him. "True love is a wonderful thing, Professor."

"Absolutely," Nick says quickly. "Couldn't agree with you more."

"I'll just take these, shall I?" Stephen picks up the box. Nick notices his t-shirt is rather tight, and not in a way that implies Stephen's put on any weight recently. "Thank you for all your help, Mrs. Gumbee."

"Call me 'Irene'." She smiles at Stephen, then scowls at Nick. "Have a safe trip, Professor, and please take care not to damage any of your equipment. It's very expensive."

 

"Don't you think this whole Alison thing has gone a bit too far?" Nick asks, three months later. The rainforest is noisy around them, full of life that's of no interest to Nick, unless it's dangerous to his own.

Stephen has saved his life at least twice in the past week alone. Before, it used to be Helen who'd look out for him, have a gun at the ready and be all read up on the local predators. Nick would have been just as happy to have stayed in his office, if only there hadn't been so many things to learn from the exact location of a fossil or collection of bones.

"Why fix something that's not broken?" If it bothers Stephen to be woken up because Nick wants to talk, he hides it well.

"But it _is_ broken, isn't it?" Nick reasons. "She's not _real_. The relationship you have with this woman isn't _real_ , Stephen. You're lonely. Humans need company." Nick needed Helen, before, and he thinks that by now, he might be needing Stephen. It's a slightly scary thought, because Nick knows that one of these days, Stephen's going to get over his crush on Helen and move on. He's going to leave, and Nick'd just as soon get it over with, before he's gotten too used to having Stephen around.

"Got you, don't I?" Stephen says, making it sound like he means it.

"I'm not your girlfriend," Nick says.

"Could be my boyfriend," Stephen says, lightly and casual, and Nick knows he could chuckle now, and then they'd never have to talk about this again.

"I'm married," he says. "You offering to be some kind of stand-in for my wife?"

"I've done worse," Stephen replies.

 

The weird thing is that it doesn't feel like cheating. It feels a bit awkward every now and then, because Nick's never done this sort of thing with another man before, but Stephen's pretty good at explaining and even better at knowing when to just shut up, save the lecture for another time and demonstrate why some things work and others don't.

Stephen's body is nothing like Helen's (well, _obviously_ ) but the feeling, the sensation of being taken care of, of being safe and protected and belonging where he is right now - those are the same. Stephen's pretty dominant in bed, which is fine with Nick. It's another familiar sensation.

It doesn't occur to Nick to wonder if maybe Stephen's looking for someone else in him, too.


End file.
